Minneapolis candidate suggests council member was elected based on ethnicity

Minneapolis City Council candidate Becka Thompson has suggested for a second time that a current council member was elected based on the color of their skin or ethnicity.

On Wednesday, Thompson posted a video in which she said people voted for Ward 10 Council Member Aisha Chughtai in 2021 because she’s a “nice, young, you know, ethnic woman” who pretended to be a moderate.

Thompson came under fire in May for saying in a campaign email that she might not have “the desired amount of melanin“ in a clear shot at Council Member Aurin Chowdhury, who is Bengali American. Thompson, who is white, is running against Chowdhury in Ward 12.

In the email, Thompson said she “might not have the right haircut, or the desired amount of melanin.” Melanin is a natural substance that determines the color of people’s hair, skin and eyes.

“Maybe I didn’t tweet the party line that one day or show up for that big protest with everyone else the next,” Thompson wrote. “I wasn’t very good at doing the popular thing in high school either. It’s just who I am.”

Chowdhury called the statement “overtly racist” and said it sent a message that she was elected “for having brown skin.”

Thompson apologized for the comment, acknowledging that many people considered it “racially insensitive.” She said she would be more “mindful and deliberate in how I communicate.”

“I am trying to be mindful,” Thompson said in a text message. “Don’t you find it curious that the single, lesbian, public school teacher, working mom who survived domestic abuse and has dedicated her life to children of color is being attacked by a straight white man and people are taking the straight white man’s view of events?”

In response, Edwards said: “People are taking the view of events that she’s providing in her own campaign emails and videos.”

Thompson, a current Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board commissioner, said she was explaining the difference between the DFL Party and democratic socialists, and how ranked-choice voting affects outcomes.

Ranked-choice voting, aka instant runoff voting, allows voters to rank their first, second and third choices. If a candidate gets more than 50% in the first round of voting, they win.

If no one gets a majority of voters’ first choices, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated, and voters who ranked them first have their votes go to their second choice.

Chughtai received 37% in the first round of voting in 2021 and won the election in subsequent rounds. She did not respond to a request for comment.

Chowdhury called Thompson’s latest comment “disgraceful behavior for any person in city leadership to exhibit.”

“My opponent from the north side weakly apologized to my constituents at the May DFL convention for her previous racist remarks, and now has continued with the same harmful and overtly racist comments,” she said. “Her past apology rings hollow.”

Thompson has taught math for more than 20 years, has an MBA in finance and has been a professional actor for several decades.